Tag: Update

Once again, I’d like to thank the Shadowhunters who have ordered blades from me for their stellar patience. You guys are the best!

I’m currently doing my best to cut through the two-inch acrylic with Jitterbug and the newest member of Inkblade Studios: Hellscream.

Hellscream is a circular table saw which, much like Nibbles before it, only cuts in straight lines. It is even more adamant about this policy than Nibbles was, in fact and will SHRIEK LIKE THE SOULS OF THE DAMNED at the slightest provocation. Hellscream’s favourite things include: lurking under the work table, screaming, biting anything that comes close enough, and flinging bits of hot melted plastic at me.

Jitterbug and Hellscream make for an awkward duo to accomplish the task of cutting the sword outlines. It’s rather like hunting demons with a box-cutter and a cannon. I either have to chip away at it with many small cuts or make big, not spectacularly accurate cuts while trying not to damage anything I want to keep intact.

Wow look at that awesome sword! … what? You can’t see it? It’s inside that block of plastic there. It’s going to be spectacular as soon as I can get it out. When? Um … well, the thing about that is …

Nibbles is broken. My band-saw, Nibbles, is doing poorly at the moment. Something’s happened to the alignment of the wheels and the saw blade keeps popping off them. I’ve tried everything I can think of to fix it but the fact is, I’m an artist, not a mechanic.

So, I have six orders left to complete before the year’s end … and no band saw. This makes Ethan sad. Sad and quite frustrated. Making people pretty things and bringing them joy is my happiness. Kind of like Santa Clause without the awesome beard.

I’m working with slabs of two inch (5 cm) thick acrylic instead of my usual 1 inch in hopes of being able to do more 3D cross guards and generally have more freedom of design. I didn’t take into account that Nibbles would not be on board with my decision.

Nibbles is NOT on board with my decision. Nibbles chewed on that bit of acrylic for about twenty minutes and had a breakdown. It’s now packed away in the corner of the workshop questioning its life choices. I may just join it there cause holy cow I am super frustrated.

What am I gonna do? Well, my current game plan is to visit the hardware store tonight and search for something a little bit more robust than a hobbyist band saw. Maybe a chainsaw. No, I’m not even remotely joking. I just need something to strong enough to strap the plastic to and I will take a fracking chainsaw to it if that’s what I have to do.

No, I don’t think you quite understand.

This slab of plastic weighs as much as I do. The tablesaw I bought specifically to cut pieces off of it is too small to handle it. The chunk I removed to make the sword I’m working on (stalled on) right now took over 3 hours of sawing with that big beautiful wood saw you can see there. I’m going to have amazing shoulder muscles when I’ve finished my commissions for the year.

You can see where the table saw started crying for mercy.

So uh, that’s my update for now. What will happen next? Not even I know. Stay tuned for more insanity from Inkblade Studios!

Wow! That’s the second time I’ve busted a saw blade on Nibbles. Even though the acrylic slab I was working on is only an inch thick, it is a super dense material that means business. Don’t worry! No one was hurt. I’d like to thank the fine people at Cotech for designing a band saw that keeps the blade inside the machine when it snaps so it doesn’t come lashing out like Izzy’s whip. o_o Still scared the pants off me though.

Anywho, after about a half hour of farting around with a new blade, I was back to work.

Here’s a brand new short sword I’m working on. Yes it’s the one who broke Nibbles’ teeth LOL Remember, it’s not the size of the blade in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the blade! This beauty is feisty and takes no crap from anybody. It’s modelled after … well, can you think of anybody short, feisty, and take-no-crap who might wield it?

So what about that long sword I was working on last week? I’m so glad you asked hypothetical person!

Whoa! What’s that on the hilt?

I can put metal studs on the handle? Sure I can! When we design a blade, you’re free to let your imagination run wild. Each Shadowhunter is a unique individual with their own preferences. It makes sense that their seraph blades are too, eh?

Enough jabbering though. More shinies!

Hello darkness my old friend … I’ve come to light you up again …

Demons despair; your end has come!

Yay shinies! … kay that’s a slightly less intimidating battle cry. Anyway! I just want to leave a small note here to let you know that I have two crafting slots left for November. Yep. All the Halloween slots are taken. As you can guess, they’re very popular and are grabbed up pretty quickly. But there’s still a chance to get some sweet seraphy (that’s not a word) goodness for the Holiday Season.

I haven’t had much time to post updates as I’ve been hard at work on this.

This is my very first sci-fi sword and I’m quite proud of it.

The handle is a reinforced polymer clay with a faux-leather wrap. It gave me many sleepless nights just figuring out how it should all fit together.

It seems I possessed the greater stubbornness, though. The result is quite nice. Interestingly enough, the light is actually a deep blue. The camera, however, seems incapable of picking up this frequency and interprets it as a light pink/purple.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this break into new territory. It was very exciting for me. 🙂

I mentioned a note in the title. It’s down here. I have two crafting slots left for this year. I take a short leave of absence from the workshop for medical reasons in December. I estimate being back on light duty in February 2017. So, if you’re hoping for a blade for the holiday season, best poke me now!

Sorry I’ve been quiet guys! I caught a gross plague last week and it took me out. I’m still kind of goo-filled … sorry TMI? (And not the TMI we’re fans of!) Haaaah. Ha. Yeah I need more sleep. But I’m semi-back in the workshop today and working on the last of the three longswords for this month.

Bam! Here’s my table as of five minutes ago. How’s that for hot off the press? Here we’ve got an Ouriel and Gabriel both buffed up to a 600 grit polish at the moment. The Azrael on the right there is all polished up and has passed its Reading Test.

Yay! So the polishing on the Ouriel and Gabriel will probably be finished either tomorrow or Wednesday depending on how charitable my muscles are feeling. Haha! Want really buff shoulders? Polish swords for hours a day! Fun fun for everyone!

For the last part of the week, I’ll be fitting these beauties with their leather hilt wraps. The Gabriel in the middle there is destined for something a little special. 😉

That’s all from the Studio for now. Stay safe out there Shadowhunters!